Unitary rigid edge channel for windows

ABSTRACT

Windows for modern housing are usually supplied as one-piece glass panes having the edges set into a channel-shaped frame of relatively rigid material, usually of aluminum or rigid plastic. A simple channel construction for this purpose is described, together with a method of assembling it to the window pane, which greatly reduces the cost of both parts and assembly labor over the previous practice.

United States Patent Kessler Feb. 5, 1974 [54] UNITARY RIGID EDGECHANNEL FOR 3,205,630 9/1965 Felix 52/241 WI O 3,293,803 l2/ I966 Boassy3,420,026 l/l969 Nolan 52/403 Gerald Kessler, 388 Cranberry Rd.,Boardman, Ohio 44512 Filed: Jan. 18, 1972 Appl. No.: 218,754

Inventor:

US. Cl 52/127, 52/400, 52/475 Int. Cl E04b l/62, E06b 3/62 Field ofSearch 52/399, 400, 403, 475, 476,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/l961 Gillespie 52/403 7/l954Schob 29/235 III/I Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott AssistantExaminer-Mark H. Wolk ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented Feb.5, 1974 FIG. I.

FIG. 3A.

FIG. 6.

I Qua/A0 ll] FIG. 5.

UNITARY RIGID EDGE CHANNEL FOR WINDOWS Window sash is currently mostcommonly supplied in the form of one-piece glass windows having a frameor surround made of aluminum or rigid plastic formed by extrusionthrough a die, since this provides a very inexpensive and satisfactoryconstruction. The surround is generally in the form ofa channel member,the walls of the channel embracing the opposite sides of the glass atthe edges thereof and holding it firmly to provide the necessarystrength for the sash, and also usually serve as a runner by means ofwhich the sash is slid in the window frame to open or close the window.In addition to being strong, the surround must also be waterproof, andtherefore it has been necessary to glaze the window to perform thefunction which was formerly performed by the use of putty with the oldfashioned wooden windows. The sealing function in modern windows isperformed usually by means of soft plastic strips which engage the glassand lie between it and the rigid walls of the channel to perform thescaling function. These soft strips, which serve both to exclude waterand air, and also to cushion the glass in its rigid channel, are appliedin a number of ways, one of which is to slide a strip between the glassand the channel after the channel has been assembled to the glass, andanother is to use dual-extrusion channels having such soft stripsintegrally extending from the inner walls of the channel member, stillanother is to use channel members made up of several pieces which areassembled, e.g., by means of screws. on the glass pane. All of thesemethods are expensive either in labor or in the cost of elaboratechannel constructions, so that they often constitute a major part oftheexpense of the completed window frame. Attempts to make a simple U-shaped channel frame member of rigid material have heretofore requiredthat a sealing strip of softer material, in the form of a tape ofsufficient width to be placed on the top edge of the glass pane and todrape down on both sides for at least a portion of the length of thechannel wall, be assembled on the edge of the glass pane, after whichthe channel member is placed on top ofthis and tapped down with a hammeror similar tool to force the channel over the soft strip, so that thefinal assembly will have a sealing member between the glass and therigid channel. This is cumbersome and very expensive in labor, and oftenresults in a high breakage cost, since the channel must be made a fairlytight fit if the resulting structure is to be reasonably rigid andtight, so that considerable force is required to set it in place on theedge of the pane.

The present invention obviates the above disadvan' tages by providingthe simplest structure possible for the intended purpose. Consideringthe case of an aluminum (or rigid plastic) U-shaped channel, it is madeof the proper channel width to firmly grip a glass pane set into it,then the inner walls of the channel are coated with a layer of softplastic material which may be applied in any one of a number of ways aswill be shown below, but essentially constitutes a coating on the sidewalls of the rigid channel which serves at the same time to cushion theedge of the glass pane in the channel, to seal the glass, and to providea firm frictional engagement between the glass and the channel, so thatthe glass cannot be readily withdrawn, whereby a strong unitary framestructure is provided which in some instances may even have sufficientstrength so thatjoining the frame strips at the corner in accordancewith present practice may not be necessary. Since such a frame would bedifiicult or impossible to assemble by conventional methods, specialmeans are provided whereby the walls of the channel can be spread apartat their open end against their natural inherent resiliency, for asufficient distance to enable the edge of the glass pane to be readilyinserted, after which the spreading device releases the channel legs tofirmly grip the glass pane. This procedure can be accomplished in thefield by repair men, using special tools provided for the purpose, orpreferably is accomplished initially dur ing the factory assembly of thewindow sash, and may even be accomplished so inexpensively compared tothe high cost of labor for replacement in the field, that it would becheaper to stock extra windows and replace them when broken rather thanreplace the glass in the frame under such circumstances.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects andadvantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description ofa preferredembodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a front view of the type of window to which the inventionapplies;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1, showing one formof the invention;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view of a different from of windowchannel, together with means for spreading the channel legs;

FIG. 3A is a similar view ofa modification of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of still another form of theinvention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a device for the factory assembly of a channelof the type shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 shows a typical modern window having a glass pane 2 and a frameor surround 4 made of rigid extruded material such as aluminum or rigidplastic.

FIG. 2 shows the simplest form of the invention in which the frame 4 isin the form of a U-shaped channel of sufficiently rigid material, havingupstanding legs 6 and 8, which grasp the glass pane 2 on opposite sides.Between the inner wall of the channel and the glass pane there is acoating or layer 10, 12 of soft plastic material which is firmly adheredto the extruded channel member 4. This layer may be applied by sprayingor brushing or in any other known manner, and serves both as a grippingand a sealing surface, and is also sufficiently thick to serve to someextent as a cushioning material between the channel and the glass. Thelayer may be of any suitable material such as flexible PVC (Vinyl),flexible EVA (Ethylene vinyl acetate) which are extrudablethermoplastics and can also be extruded onto the surface of the metal orplastic channel after the latter is fully formed, as a separate factoryoperation. It is also possible to use other viscous compounds, e.g.,plastisols, organasols, liquid rubbers of the poylsulphide type,polyurethane, or silicone or neoprene type, some of which cure in airand others by means of heat, which could be applied during a normaloperation of the window, e.g., heat-treat or paint ovens. Theapplication of the gripping surface can be applied to the interior ofthe rigid channel so that it self-adheres thereto, or can be appliedthrough an intermediate adhesive as a separate thin strip by suitablemachinery. It can also be applied to the rigid channel by extruding orpumping through a die onto the surface of the channel in such conditionthat the material is forced into locking areas as shown in FIG. 3 at 14and 18, these locking channels or grooves having been previously formedduring the extrusion of the channel member itself. It will be understoodthat there may be considerable fricitional force developed during theassembly of the frame onto the glass edge, and it is therefore essentialto have a very good adhesion between the plastic layer or 12 and thechannel. An interlock such as shown at 14 and 18 is therefore veryuseful and in some cases may be essential for proper operation duringthe assembly.

The channel shown in FIG. 3 is also made with upstanding ears or lugs asshown at 22 and permitting the insertion of suitably-dimensioned hooks24 and 26 so that the legs of the channel can be spread apartsuffciently to permit easy insertion of the glass pane 2. The hooks 24and 26 could be at the end of a device like a pair of plyers operatedmanually by a service man in the field, or could be part of suitableproduction machinery for production assembly in the factory. If desired,a bottom pad or strip 13 of soft plastic material can be placed at thebottom of the channel to cushion the edge of the glass 2, and also tolimit the distance the glass can penetrate the channelv Another way ofdoing this is shown in FIG. 3A, by making the plastic extrusion 15 inthe form of a smaller U-channel with its bottom at the desired distanceabove the bottom of the rigid channel.

FIG. 4 shows still another type of lug 26, 28 for spreading the legs ofthe channel. This may be done either by means of wide clamps as shown at30 and 32 which grip the entire length of the channel, or a considerableportion of it, so that the entire glass pane can be inserted at once, orelse as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, by starting at one end of the strip andspreading a short area st :1 time as will be explained below. The firstmethod (FIG. 4) is particularly suitable in the case of fairly smallwindow panes, such as are used in automobiles and similar locations. Thesecond method is more suitable in the case oflong channel sections suchas are used in larger window panes. It will be apparent that thedistortion of the section as shown in FIG. 5 is what is normally donewhen assembling rigid U-shaped chan nels with a previously-applied stripof friction or sealing material wrapped around the edge before thechannel is inserted; in this case, it has been the practice to begintapping the channel at one end to get it on and to continue the tappingalong the length of the channel until it is entirely assembled.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the spreading operation can be accomplishedby means of suitably spaced and dimensioned spreading wheels 34 whichengage the undercut portion of the lugs 26 and 28 to pull them apart forinsertion of the glass pane 2. As will be seen in FIG. 5, there areseveral sets of such wheels 34, 34, etc., each set being spaced slightlyfurther apart than the preceding one, and also being set more close tothe edge of the glass pane, so that as the channel walls are spreadapart, the bottom of the channel is also forced, by means of roller 36,onto the edge of the glass pane 2. The glass pane and the channel strip4" are fed into the machine as shown in FIG. 5, in the proper positional relationship to each other, and by the time the pane and striphave been pushed through the roller wheel assembly, the channel striphas been properly as sembled to the glass pane. The same operation isthen repeated for the other sides to form the complete window. Ifdesired, conventional corner connectors may be used to pull the frametogether, or alternatively, the frictional engagement between thechannel and the glass may be sufficient in some cases so that no furtherreinforcement is necessary.

It should be noted that the invention is not limited to use withextrusions, but the frame could also be rolled as formed metal as usedin automobile glazing. The entire operation shown in FIG. 5 may be partof a completely automated operation using conventional techniques,whereby the glass sheets are fed in succession one behind another andthe various stages of assembly are performed until the fully completedwindow pane is turned out at the end of the assembly line.

While the gripping surface of the smooth plastic material has been shownas smooth, it will be apparent that it could be ribbed or otherwiseslightly corrugated to produce a better holding surface.

I claim:

1. A unitary, rigid, extruded U-channel frame member for window panelsand the like,

a. said frame member having two opposed upstanding wall members spacedapart a distance to firmly grip a panel edge inserted between said wallmembers,

b. at least one of the inner sides of each of said opposed wall membersbeing permanently surfaced with a continuous layer of soft plasticmaterial firmly attached to the side wall and providing a substantialfriction and sealing surface in contact with the corresponding opposedsurfaces of a panel edge inserted into the channel of said frame member,

c, said channel wall members having spreading lugs extending, near theirtop edges, away from a panel inserted in said channel frame.

2. The invention according to claim I, said lugs ex tending as acontinuation of the channel legs but spaced away from a panel insertedinto the frame to permit application and release of a mechanicalspreading member.

3. The invention according to claim 2, said lugs extending axially alongthe length of said channel frame member and having a re-entrant portionengagable by a pair of oppositely-disposed spreading wheels to spreadsaid channel legs as said wheels move relative to the length of saidchannel member from end to end.

1. A unitary, rigid, extruded U-channel frame member for window panelsand the like, a. said frame member having two opposed upstanding wallmembers spaced apart a distance to firmly grip a panel edge insertedbetween said wall members, b. at least one of the inner sides of each ofsaid opposed wall members being permanently surfaced with a continuouslayer of soft plastic material firmly attached to the side wall andproviding a substantial friction and sealing surface in contact with thecorresponding opposed surfaces of a panel edge inserted into the channelof said frame member, c. said channel wall members having spreading lugsextending, near their top edges, away from a panel inserted in saidchannel frame.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, said lugsextending as a continuation of the channel legs but spaced away from apanel inserted into the frame to permit application and release of amechanical spreading member.
 3. The invention according to claim 2, saidlugs extending axially along the length of said channel frame member andhaving a re-entrant portion engagable by a pair of oppositely-disposedspreading wheels to spread said channel legs as said wheels moverelative to the length of said channel member from end to end.